sel, that those who reject the benefits offered to them in this Covenant, should be rejected, or remain under the condemnation to which they are subject as "the children of wrath ;" and that those who having once received the promises in Baptism are afterwards deficient in lively faith, and disobedient to the Will of God, and abide not in Christ, bringing forth fruit as branches of the true vine, shall be "cast forth and withered." To this giving over of the unbelieving and perverse to a reprobate mind, a mind disapproving good; and to the abandonment of the reprobate and wicked to eternal death the term Reprobation, though not a scriptural one, may be applied, consistently with the use of the word reprobate.

Predestination respects not only the final doom of all men, but the means which infinite wisdom has devised, and infinite goodness has appointed, for the accomplishment of the divine purpose. And it is according to that foreknowledge of all possible events, which is as much an essential attribute of the Deity as his wisdom and his goodness; and which is no less compatible with the free-will and consequent responsibility of man as a moral agent, than Providence and universal controul, with the contingent operation of second causes in the natural world.

They are said to be predestinated to Life, who are chosen to be put into possession of the means of Grace by vocation, justification, and adoption,-who by the aid and influence of the Spirit with the concurrence of their own will and endeavours, are conformed to the image of the Son of God in sanctification and obedience ;-who, walking according to the

holiness, are eventually glorified. Predestination, therefore, is the decree by which the Elest, through certain appointed means, and on certain prescribed terms, attain eternal life; and by which also those who despise the riches of God's grace are cast away as reprobate.

§3. In the Old Testament the expressions elect and chosen, are confined either to Christ himself, to persons set apart to certain offices, or to the Jews, as the peculiar people of God, separated by him from other nations for an especial purpose. In the New Testament, however, in which the words, though sometimes used in the same manner as in the Old, more frequently possess an evangelical sense, having regard to the scheme of the Salvation of Mankind by Jesus Christ, it appears that the universal Church of Christ consisting principally of Gentiles-the Jewish proselytes in contradistinction to the unbelieving Jews

-and certain divisions or parts of the Christian Church, are spoken of as elect, or chosen, or beloved; and that these terms are also applied more particularly to certain individual members distinguished from others, who are equally comprehended in the general designation of Christians, the elect of whom the visible Church consists.

§ 4. When speaking of Election, as it may be applied to individual members of the Christian Churchand all general terms admit of particular application -Holy Writ seems to refer either to the appointment of the individual among others of his nation, age, or family to the means of Grace and the hopes and privileges of the New Covenant-or to his continuance

during his state of probation in this world in the use and enjoyment of these benefits-or to his being finally separated from the wicked, and gathered unto his Lord and Saviour, in the world to come. In the first sense he is said to be elect, who has been, through grace, eternally chosen, according to the foreknowledge and merciful purpose of the Almighty, to be made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven: in the second, he is elect, who by grace and obedience continues in this state of Salvation, approved and beloved by God for Christ's sake unto his life's end: and in the third, he is elect, who shall attain to the consummation of his election, the Salvation of his Soul.

In the first case man cannot be otherwise than a passive recipient; in the second,-in the state of Election, in which he is placed, in this life, he is required actively to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in the progressive work of sanctification, repentance, and conformity to Christ; in order that he may be fitted to receive the benefits which are promised to him, if he reach the third stage, his Election to final glory.

Each one of these several stages of Election is connected with the others-but not necessarily. The third presupposes the second and the first; and the second implies the first : but a continuance in a state of Election is not the necessary result of Election into the Church; nor is final Election the certain event of either, unless the continuance be unto the end-which is not sure. The title Elect may, however, be given, by eminence, to him who possesses as securely as he can, through Faith, all the benefits past, present, and future, of Election;-to the true and stedfast Chris

reserve.

God would have all men to be saved; and the proffers of mercy in Christ are made to all. God is not, therefore, the cause of the rejection of any.

That which by the infallible word of God is conditionally promised to all, cannot be given unconditionally and exclusively to any; that which is declared to be uncertain till the course is finished, cannot be made certain before the course is begun. Election, therefore, in any sense of the word, is not irrespective of the performance of prescribed conditions-absolutely confined to certain Christians to the exclusion of others or necessarily productive of salvation till the hour of death; till the Election become final.

§ 8. The cause of Reprobation is sin in man, who will not hear or receive the Gospel, or having received it, falls from the faith by which the promise is embraced, and lives in disobedience. To his own fault and to the justice of God, who consequently withholds a greater measure of Grace where his sufficient aid has been despised, is to be attributed the Reprobation by which, as a vessel of wrath, man is fitted for destruction. It is the will of God that some events, such as the Creation of the World and the incarnation of his Son, shall absolutely come to pass; and this decree can never fail. But it is also his Will that other events shall depend upon intermediate agency, such as good works in man; and these, by the permission of God, often fail through the defect or perverseness of the agent. The will of God being the origin of all things, nothing can happen but by his ordinance or permission:-thus it is, that he has absolutely elected a Church in Christ, and predestinated it to eternal

life; but justly permits those individuals who will not enter it, or having entered it, will not conform to its obligations, to draw down upon themselves their own reprobation, and incur eternal death.

§ 9. They who shall be declared at the Judgmentday before men and angels to have answered the end of their election, cannot now be known either to their fellow-mortals, or with absolute certainty even to themselves, but only to the omniscient Searcher of their hearts and ways. To ascertain, however, as far as may be whether we be still in the number of the elect, whether our names having been written in the Book of Life, are unerased, we must inquire whether we "be in Christ," who is the Book of Life. We cannot find our Election in ourselves, for we are guilty and deserving of condemnation; nor in the secret counsel of God, which is hidden from us, but rather in Him who was given that all that believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life. If, therefore, we have a lively and fruitful faith in Christ, we are written in the Book of Life, and are sure of our Election at the present time; but we must remember that it is possible to fall from grace given, and to have our names blotted out of the Book of Life: we must in this case be restored, on sincere repentance and lively faith, before we can entertain a confident hope of our Predestination and Election to future glory.

§ 10. Reflection on the immutable Decree whereby God predestinated to Life, from all Eternity in and for Christ, those whom he foresaw would believe in the name and accept the Mediation of his Son, is a source of ineffable consolation and joy to such as earnestly desire to lay hold on the Promise of Salvation which